Former Australian PM Turnbull Urges World Leaders to Stand Up to Trump at IOP Forum

Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm B. Turnbull slammed foreign leaders for appeasing U.S. President Donald Trump, arguing they have a “duty” to confront him directly during an Institute of Politics forum on Thursday.

During a conversation moderated by former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia A. Freeland ’90, Turnbull denounced the United States as a “force for disruption” under Trump, arguing that its international alliances may not easily be restored by a future Democratic administration. He defended Australia’s engagement with China against Western pressure to take a harder line.

Turnbull opened by referencing a salient personal experience with Trump — a Jan. 2017 phone call with the president over a refugee resettlement deal struck with the Obama administration. Just before the call, he said, then-Vice President Mike Pence warned Australian officials that Trump would not honor the agreement and that Turnbull should not raise it.

“So naturally, I had to,” Turnbull said.

Trump, he said, was “very, very angry” and told him it was “the worst call of the day.” But the deal held.

“It began with no, but ended up with yes,” Turnbull said. “With personalities like Trump, that’s the only way you should deal with it.”

That lesson, Turnbull argued, applies to every world leader navigating Trump’s second term. He singled out European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s July 2025 meeting with Trump as a cautionary tale where Europeans “rolled over.”

“It is the duty of other foreign leaders, particularly those that lead countries that are friends of the United States, to tell Trump the truth and look him in the eye and say, ‘Listen, you’re wrong,’” Turnbull said.

“Look at that excruciating meeting at Turnberry in Scotland, and what did they end up with: abuse, humiliation, threats to seize Greenland. You just cannot take a backward step,” he added.

Turnbull argued Trump’s unreliability toward allies was central to the administration’s foreign policy approach. Freeland pointed to a February poll showing 55 percent of Canadians view the U.S. as the greatest threat to their country — more than China and Russia combined.

“Xi Jinping hasn’t said that he thinks Canada should become a province of China,” Turnbull said.

Turnbull also pushed back against Western hawkishness toward Beijing, rejecting the idea of an inevitable conflict with China and criticizing Australian politicians who engage in “China-bashing” to win favorable media coverage.

“It’s in our interest to have a very good relationship with China,” Turnbull said.

Turnbull concluded the talk by casting doubt on whether America’s standing among allies could be easily repaired after Trump leaves office.

“Let’s say the next president is a Democrat and that president, whoever it is, stands up and says, America is back,” Turnbull said. “No one is going to be convinced.”

“Everyone is going to say, ‘Oh yeah, prove it.’ So it’s going to take a while to rebuild that trust.”